This invention relates to the art of exterior lighting for vehicles and, more particularly, to an auxiliary light and wiring arrangement for connecting the auxiliary light to a vehicle.
The present invention finds particular utility in connection with vehicles such as snow plows having an attached plow blade and, accordingly, is disclosed and described in detail hereinafter in connection with such use. However, it will be appreciated that the invention is applicable to other lighting and electrical connection uses.
Auxiliary lights are light sources utilized to supplement a vehicle's standard lighting. These lights are often used, for example, on snowplow vehicles and on off-road vehicles. The lights for these uses are designed to either mount on the frame of a snow plow or some other external component of the vehicle capable of supporting the light. Although the use of auxiliary lights is becoming popular for various types of vehicles and vehicle applications, the type of available lights and the wiring harness used to connect these auxiliary to the vehicle's existing electrical system have many inherent problems.
Existing auxiliary light designs commonly utilize a conventional sealed beam headlight within the auxiliary light housing assembly. Due to the size and weight of the conventional sealed beam auxiliary lights, such auxiliary lights are undesirably heavy, thereby requiring stronger and costlier housing materials and/or reinforcement of the components in the auxiliary light housing. These heavy auxiliary lights also limit the mounting locations on a vehicle and can result in increased incidents of damage to the light and/or vehicle when the vehicle is operated in harsh and/or off-road environments. Another problem with existing auxiliary lights is the design of such lights and the difficultly in replacing parts. Replacement of a sealed beam headlight varies in difficulty based on the structure, age and condition of the auxiliary lighting assembly. The removal of the cover plates and support thereof is difficult and time consuming. Dismounting of the auxiliary light can also be difficult since such lights do not include integral mounting components, thereby requiring an additional support member, a bezel, and/or other components to secure the light to the housing. The auxiliary lights typically include pads which provide cushioning and reduce vibration of the light components. The location and number of components of the auxiliary light make it difficult to access, remove, replace and reseal the auxiliary light components. Many of the problems associated with auxiliary lights are addressed and overcome by the improved auxiliary light disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 29/080,246, filed Dec. 5, 1997 and U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 09/018,930, filed Feb. 5, 1998, both of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The wiring arrangements or harnesses for auxiliary light systems also have many problems. Traditionally, the auxiliary lights were spliced into the existing wiring for the headlights of the vehicle. The splicing of the existing wiring caused many problems. Wires which were not properly spliced together become loose resulting in the auxiliary lights and/or headlights to malfunction. Improperly spliced wires also resulted in electrical shorts which could damaged the electrical system of the vehicle and/or cause a malfunction with one or more electrical systems of the vehicle, including the headlights and/or auxiliary lights. The splicing of OEM wiring of the vehicle further resulted in the voiding of many of the warranties for the OEM wiring of the vehicle and/or headlights of the vehicle. The splicing of the auxiliary light system into the existing electrical system of the vehicle further made it difficult to connect and disconnect the auxiliary lights when the auxiliary lights needed to be repaired or were not needed. Such connecting and disconnecting also resulted in increased wear and damage to the spliced region of the vehicle electrical system thereby resulting in increased incidents of failure or malfunction of the vehicle electrical system.
In view of the problems associated with splicing auxiliary lights to the existing electrical system of a vehicle, auxiliary light harnesses were developed to eliminate the need to splice the OEM wiring to the headlights of a vehicle. One such electrical harness is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,280,062 issued to Richard R. Miller. The Miller harness connects the headlights of a vehicle and two auxiliary lights to a single existing vehicle plug that is connected to a vehicle headlight power source. The Miller harness requires the existing headlight wiring harness to be disconnected prior to using the harness. Therefore, when using the Miller harness, a portion of the OEM wiring of the vehicle is not used and can be discarded. Although the Miller harness overcomes some of the problems associated with splicing OEM wiring for the headlights of the vehicle, several problems exist when using the Miller harness.
The Miller harness is designed to connect two basic auxiliary lights to a vehicle's headlight power source. The Miller harness cannot be used with auxiliary lights that house emergency and/or turning signal lights along with the beam light. Consequently, the Miller harness is limited for use with only certain type of auxiliary lights. The Miller harness is designed to provide power to the vehicle headlights and/or the auxiliary lights from a single vehicle headlight power source. The current drawn on the single vehicle headlight power source during the operation of both headlights and/or auxiliary lights can result in an overload and/or damage to the wiring of the single vehicle headlight source caused by too much current being drawn through the wiring. The Miller harness, during installation, requires a cable containing at least six wires to be inserted through the fire wall of the vehicle so that a six pole switch can be mounted on or near the dashboard of the vehicle. Due to the large number of wires, a large hole must be drilled through the fire wall of the vehicle. Such size a hole can be difficult to form in the fire wall and can result in damage to the vehicle. The switch used in the Miller harness required six or more wires to be connected in a certain arrangement for the switch to operate properly. Improper connection of the wires to the switch results in a short in the harness which could cause damage and/or malfunction to the electrical system of the vehicle and/or damage to the headlights and/or auxiliary lights. In addition, due to the multiple wires connected to the switch of the Miller harness, it is difficult to locate a damaged or faulty wire to the switch and/or replace a wire to the switch. Shorting of the electrical system of the Miller harness and/or vehicle electrical system can occur during the use of the Miller harness. When using the Miller harness, only one of the vehicle headlight power sources is connected to the harness. The other vehicle headlight power source remains disconnected. During the operation of the vehicle, moisture, dirt, etc. can collect in the unused headlight power source and can cause a short during the operation of the vehicle. Furthermore, when the auxiliary headlights are disconnect from the Miller harness and the harness is not removed from the vehicle, the connectors for the auxiliary lights can collect moisture, dirt, etc. which can cause a short during the operation of the vehicle. The Miller harness also cannot be partially or totally detached and reattached in the vehicle without significant difficulty. When the Miller harness is to be repaired and requires the repaired portion to be removed from the vehicle, the complete harness must be removed from the vehicle. This requires the multiple wires to the switch to be pulled through the vehicle fire wall and out of the engine compartment without damaging the wires. When the Miller harness is to be reattached to the vehicle, the multiple wires must be inserted through the fire wall without damaging the wires and properly reattached to the switch.
In view of the deficiencies of prior auxiliary light harnesses, there is a need for an auxiliary light harness that can be used with a wide variety of auxiliary lights, which eliminates the need to splice the wiring to the headlights of a vehicle, which is easy to install in a vehicle, which reduces the occurrences of overloading the OEM wiring of the vehicle, which protects against shorting of an electrical circuit, which one or more components of the harness can be easily detached and reattached to the vehicle, and which components of the harness can be easily accessed for easy repair and/or replacement.